Composition of matter.



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM H. MURRAY, OF SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA.

COMPOSITION OF MATTER.

No Drawing. Application filed April 9, 1908, Serial No. 426,116. RenewedFebruary 23, 1911.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Sept. 12, 1911.

Serial No.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM H. MURRAY, a citizen of the United States,residing in the city and county of San Francisco and State ofCalifornia, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inCompositions of Matter, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to a composition of matter designed for use withfine coal, slack, etc., and particularly the bituminous coals which havethe property of throwing off great volumes of dense or black smokecarrying particles of carbon in the form of soot which finally settleupon buildings, clothes, etc., to the great annoyance to the owners andpermanent damage to the structure.

The essential object of the invention is to mechanically combine withthe aforesaid coals a chemical composition which has the property ofpromoting combustion of the coal to such an extent as to practicallyinsure the elimination of free carbon, and thereby prevent thegeneration of the dense or black smoke resulting from soft or bituminouscoals, the smoke arising from the combustion of the fuel impregnatedwith my composition being generally of a gray color and quicklydissipating when discharged into the open air,

In practicing my invention I have endeavored to discover some effectiveand cheap substance "suitable to attain the desired result, namely, thematerial reduction and almost complete elimination of the dense blacksmoke and the reduction of gases arising from the incomplete combustionof soft coal, thereby minimizing the inconveniences and damage flowingfrom the use.

of such coal and the discharge of the products thereof from stacks andchimneys, into the open air, and I have found, after extensiveexperiment, that the by-product known as salt cake and heretoforeregarded largely as the waste arising from acid works, was mosteffective, when mixed with soft coal, in reducing to a minimum theobjectionable dense black smoke arising from the use of such coal.

Salt-cake (sodium sulfate),

Na SO -Na O (sodium oxid) 43.66 has heretofore largely been regarded asa waste from acid works and is therefore comparatively inexpensive;

when used alone with soft coal there was a marked depreciation of denseblack smoke emitted, but the best results have been obtained when thesalt cake was mixed with calcium hydroxid (freshly slaked lime), inabout the proportion of seven (7) parts of salt cake to three (3) partsof lime, the two substances being pulverized or ground to formsubstantially a powder and intimately mixed. Being in a dry and groundcondition, the composition may be readily packaged and is ready for usewhenever the occasion requires. This combined dry substance is mixedwith the soft coal by sprinkling it over the latter, the proportion ofmaterial used being about onehalf pound of the compound to say fifteen(15) pounds of coal, and when the fuel is fed into the fire-box of thefurnace or stove, the chemicals named seem to have the property offiuxing or neutralizing the gases arising from combustion to such anextent that the smoke emitted from the stack or chimney will be gray incolor, instead of dense or black, and will readily dissipate anddisappear entirely after traveling a comparatively short distance fromthe stack.

If desired the coal may be sprayed with water, and the dry or powderedcomposition if blown or sprinkled thereon will readily adhere to themoistened coal and form somewhat of a coating therefor.

It is not known just what chemical change occurs when my composition ofmatter is operating in contact with the fire and is consumed in thepresence of the soft coal, and efforts on my part to ascertain fromskilled chemists the change which takes place in the furnace have beenunavailing. The fact remains however that extensive experiments made byme show that there is a more perfect combustion by the substanceevolving oxygen when heated, or from some other cause unknown to me, andthe diminution in the amount of black smoke which is discharged from thestack. When using coal to which my compound has been added and the coalburned under conditions exactly similar to those existing when using thesame coal without the compound, little or no smoke was observed andwhatever smoke there was it was of a thin character and without thedense black and evident escape of carbon shown in the tests in which thecompound was not used; there was also a vof objectionable clinkers.

material reduction in the smoke clouds when using my compound, thereduction in many instances exceeding fifty per cent.

Among the advantages of my composition as shown by recent exhaustivetests are the following 1st. The consumption of black smoke and soot,and the clearing of the stack within two (2) minutes. 2nd. A reductionin fuel bills of about 25%. 3rd. A gain in extra steam of about 20 to4th. As no steam jet is required I save the heat energy, to produce thesteam, estimated at from 80 cents to one dollar per day or a saving of1/10 fuel bill; 5th. There Was less firing required, therefore there wasa saving in labor. 6th.- There was an absence 7th. There was no damagingeffects, no corrosion to iron or steel tubes. 8th. The volume of blacksmoke arising from soft coal unmixed with my compound was found totravel about 750 feet from the stack, while the travel of the lightbrown or gray smoke emitted from soft coal mixed with my compound wasreduced to about 50 feet. that the shades of smoke wereafter the first1/8th minute the smoke was brown; the

9th. The tests show tain a saving in fuel, steam, and labor, and Ieffect a more perfect combustion and a neutralizing of the gasesordinarily resulting from combustion and almost completely eliminatefrom the escaping products of combustion the objectionable anddeleterious or injurious substances, which are so common in the burningof soft coal as to call for the enactment of stringent laws in manycommunities.

Having thus described my invention what I claim as new and desire tosecure by Letters Patent is- The powdered composition of matter hereindescribed consisting of two ingredients,-

WILLIAM H. MURRAY.

Witnesses:

GEORGE DOBBS, W. O. DOBBS.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. G.

